Controversial Salafist preacher, Imam El Hadi Doudi, who was based in the southern French city of Marseille, was expelled to Algeria Friday morning following a lengthy legal process, according to a French media report.

The 63-year-old preacher -- who was born in Algeria and does not have French citizenship -- was expelled on Friday, the AFP reported quoting an unnamed French interior ministry source.

The expulsion followed a deportation order issued by the French interior ministry on Tuesday.

But Doudi’s expulsion application was suspended pending a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which finally ruled in favour of the deportation on Thursday.

The ruling followed an appeal by the Salafist cleric’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, who argued that his client would be tortured or suffer "inhuman or degrading treatment" if he was returned to Algeria.

The court granted the French government 72 hours "to gather the additional information necessary to make an informed decision”. Doudi was held in an administrative detention center pending the court’s final ruling.

Sermons targeting women, Jews, Shiites

The imam of the as-Sounna mosque, in the heart of Marseille, was one of the most high profile cases in the French government’s effort to combat radicalisation.

The new de-radicalisation plan announced by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government includes increased surveillance of Muslim clerics accused of hate speech and incitement to violence.

The as-Sounna mosque was closed in December following allegations that Doudi was provoking discrimination, hatred and violence toward an individual or group.

A confidential government investigative report, seen by the New York Times, cited numerous sermons by Doudi, where he preached that Jews are “unclean, the brothers of monkeys and pigs”. Women, the preacher stressed, could not leave their homes without authorisation, and an apostate “needs to be eliminated by the death penalty to protect Muslims”.

In its expulsion application, the French Interior Ministry cited the radical imam’s "deliberate incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence against a particular person or group of persons", notably women, Jews, Shiites and people committing adultery.

Radical clerics under scrutiny

Following a spate of deadly terrorist incidents since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks, France has tightened its anti-terror laws while attempting to tackle the spread of Islamist extremism particularly in French prisons, schools, mosques and Islamic centres.

Between 2012 and 2015, the French Interior Ministry expelled 40 Muslim clerics while another 52 people – including clerics – were expelled over the past 28 months, according to the New York Times.

In 2017, 20 radicalised foreign nationals were expelled from French territory, according to French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb.

Last month, France expelled Mohammed Tlaghi, a substitute imam at a mosque in Torcy, an eastern Parisian suburb, due to radical sermons, under an expulsion order issued on March 2.

The as-Sounna mosque, where Doudi preached, has been closed since December 11, 2017, when the Marseille police department issued a six-month closure order, which was ratified by France’s top administrative court earlier this year.

PARIS (Sputnik) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that the government would take all necessary measures to fight radical Islamism, of which include imposing control over the foreign financing of mosques.

"I met the Saudi Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman], and we addressed this issue. I want it so that foreign financing [of mosques] is organized under the control of the state and is transparent. I don’t want any mosques to open with backdoor financing," Macron told TF1 broadcaster.

The French president vowed to take all the necessary steps to fight Islamic fundamentalism.

"We will take all the necessary measures to fight radical Islamism … Firstly, we gave ourselves the means to close the [salafist] mosques, and we will continue doing this. Secondly, we will pursue the deportation [policy]. Thirdly, we have to clarify the rules for [mosque] financing and operation," Macron said.

On Tuesday, Macron held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the latter’s visit to France. The two leaders discussed the ongoing crises in the Middle East and fight against terrorism.

France Subjected to Massive Islamization by Muslim Brotherhood – Activist
In October, Macron signed new counterterrorism legislation to replace the already two-year state of emergency that was initially introduced in the aftermath of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris.

In February, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said that three mosques were closed in the French cities of Aix-en-Provence, Sartrouville and Marseille due to their "apologetic attitude toward terrorism."

_________________--
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.comhttp://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."

French President Emmanuel Macron looks on at the Ossuary of Douaumont near Verdun, France November 6, 2018.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was entirely 'legitimate' to pay tribute to Philippe Pétain as a WWI hero despite his 'disastrous' role in collaborationist France in WWII CREDIT: REUTERS
Henry Samuel, paris 7 NOVEMBER 2018 • 6:25PM
Emmanuel Macron has drawn fierce criticism over plans to celebrate Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain’s role as a “great soldier” in the First World War.

Petain led France's Vichy regime during the Second World War and was sentenced to death for collaboration before then-president Charles de Gaulle, a longtime admirer, reduced the punishment to life in prison.

But he was a hero of the First World War. A 58-year old colonel at the start of battle in 1914, Pétain earned acclaim for stopping the Germans at the Battle of Verdun and assumed command of the French forces in 1917, rebuilding troop morale after a series of mutinies and other setbacks.

A ceremony will be held on Saturday to commemorate the eight marshals who commanded French forces during the First World War, including Petain.

"I consider it entirely legitimate that we pay homage to the marshals who led our army to victory," Mr Macron, 40, said in the eastern town of Charleville-Mezieres, part of a tour of northern France making the centenary of the Armistice.

"Marshal Petain was a great soldier in World War One, it’s a fact,” Mr Macron said, while stressing that the former leader had made "disastrous choices" during the Second World War.

France's Marshal Philippe Petain at a 1941 meeting of the Council of Ministers in Vichy, central France CREDIT: AP
But his comments drew fire from the opposition as well as Jewish leaders on a still painful chapter in France's history.

Francis Kalifat of the CRIF association of French Jewish groups said he was "shocked" by Mr Macron's comments in praise of a man who oversaw the deportation of thousands of Jews.

"The only thing we will remember about Petain is that he was convicted, in the name of the French people, of national indignity during his trial in 1945," said Mr Kalifat said.

"Petain is a traitor and an anti-Semite," tweeted Jean-Luc Melenchon of the far-left France Unbowed party, echoing a flurry of angry postings.

"Macron, this time you've gone too far!”

The French president will not attend Saturday’s ceremony at Les Invalides in Paris, instead sending his chief military adviser.

”I'm not overlooking any page in our history," said the centrist president.

"Political life, and human nature, are sometimes more complicated than we might like to believe.”

Emmanuel Macron's spokesman called the row over Pétain "fake". CREDIT: REUTERS
Mr Macron is not the first French head of state to pay tribute to Pétain.

Former socialist president Francois Mitterrand sparked similar howls of disapproval when he placed flowers on his tomb on the anniversary of the armistice every year. His successor Jacques Chirac put an end to the practice.

Violent Protests in Paris
Sun Dec 2, 2018 09:35PM
This edition of the program is about the recent violent protests in Paris against reforms proposed by macron. People are angry at the liberal economic policies of the French president.

Violent Protests in Paris
Sun Dec 2, 2018 09:35PM
This edition of the program is about the recent violent protests in Paris against reforms proposed by macron. People are angry at the liberal economic policies of the French president.

#France protests spreadhttps://t.co/V1ixt1RpKWReminder: When similar scale protests in Libya Syria Iran & Ukraine (in contrast to when in US UK allies eg SaudiArabia & Bahrain), the West urged overthrow of their govts, and our media reported them not as riots but revolutions

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